What He Left Behind

After a night of tossing and turning thanks to the bed being so uncomfortable, I give up all hope of sleep and quietly climb out of bed. It’s 7.30am and Charlie is fast asleep. He is lying on his stomach with the blanket covering only his lower body. His hair is even messier than usual, but not in a bad way. Charlie’s one of those people that suits looking all scruffy and dishevelled.

With every breath, his body rises and falls slightly. He looks so peaceful and innocent when he sleeps, making it impossible to believe he’s all bad like his reputation.

Tearing my eyes from him, I pick up my bag from the chair and go into the bathroom to get changed. I change into some black skinny jeans, a white blouse and some black studded boots.
Then I untie my brown hair and brush it out, allowing it to fall in its natural waves. I place my sunglasses on my head and apply my make-up before going back into the bedroom.
Charlie is still lying motionless on the bed. My gaze lingers on his sleeping figure.

“Stop staring at me creeper,” Charlie mumbles, his eyes opening only slightly. I feel myself blush and look down at the ground. He sits himself up and checks the time, annoyingly even more attractive when he’s just woken up.

“Did you sleep okay?” I ask him.

“Yeah, how could I not with you fidgeting all night?” he groans.

“It’s not my fault we were sleeping on a fucking blancmange,” I complain and he yawns and stretches his arms and laughs slightly.

After Charlie has got himself ready and we’ve both eaten breakfast, we drive to Hollywood and go to see the Hollywood sign and then the Walk of Fame. The day goes by faster than I would have liked and before I know it, it’s time to start heading back.

I decide the six hour journey is the perfect opportunity for me to find out all the things I’ve been craving to know about him. We chat solidly about pretty much everything under the sun. He tells me about how he and Stan met and I tell him about what it’s like in Marietta. He tells me about how the band formed and I tell him about Amber and Harlee and Tristan and Keegan. We cover every topic from our pet hates to our religious beliefs to our families to our opinions on life issues. I’m so intrigued by him that I have a mental list of questions longer than my arm to ask him, so we never run out of things to talk about.

The best thing is that he listens to me. He’s as inquisitive and curious as I am so we find out a whole bunch of random stuff about each other. I haven’t felt this listened to in so long but I almost feel like he’s hanging onto my every word, the way I am his. It’s the nicest feeling in the world and when we pull up outside my house late Sunday evening, I’m more than a little bit reluctant to leave Charlie.

“Has this weekend made you feel better?” Charlie asks.

“Yes,” I smile, almost forgetting about how badly it started off.

“I’m glad. What are you doing for the rest of today?”

“It’s gone 11pm Charlie and we have school tomorrow. I’m doing homework and then going to sleep. What are you doing?”

“I’ll probably go to Tay’s.” His words cut me like a knife. Am I jealous?

“Okay,” I say awkwardly, shaking the thought of them together from my head. Charlie smiles before leaning over and giving me a kiss on the cheek. I feel butterflies in my tummy as I grab my bag from the backseat and jump out of the van.

“Thank you Charlie,” I say, smiling a genuine smile.

“Anytime sweetie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” My head is spinning at a thousand miles per hour as I unlock the front door. This weekend has by far been the best weekend I’ve had in a very long time, maybe in my entire life. Everything has felt like an uphill battle in recent years, even more so since Austin died. I was beginning to question if I’d ever be truly happy again, but now I feel different.
I feel hopeful and optimistic and all these other feelings that I haven’t felt in such a long time. Who’d have thought that the arrogant boy with a drug problem and an attitude would be the one to make me feel okay again?

-

As Amber, Harlee, Tristan, Keegan and I walk into school on Monday, I notice Charlie and his friends, including Tay, in their usual spot across the courts. I feel a pang of jealousy but instantly dismiss the stupid feeling. I have no reason to be jealous; we’re nothing more than friends after all. Besides, it seems like Charlie and Tay have been friends for a while. She has more of a right to be jealous than I do. Harlee notices the frown on my face and follows my gaze.

“Do you fancy Charlie?” she questions, raising her eyebrows. I cringe, hoping it’s not as blatantly obvious to the entire world as it is to her.

“No,” I mutter in a pathetically unconvincing manner.

“Okay,” she scoffs, laughing bluntly.

“I don’t fancy Charlie,” I cry defensively.

“Come on Noelle, we’re your friends, we won’t tell anyone,” Harlee persists.

“We went to LA at the weekend,” I tell them, deciding that it won’t hurt to tell them that.

“What?!” Harlee squeals, “You’re kidding.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Tristan gasps, “I know you’ve only just moved here but you have to know that guy’s a douche.”

“Do you even know him?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, explain this to me kid; you’ve been here for three weeks and somehow, you and Charlie fucking Hemmingway have spent the weekend together,” Harlee cries, “I’ve known Charlie for years and he has never once interacted with a girl unless there’s something in it for him. Did you guys fuck?”

“Definitely not,” I gasp, cringing. Call me old-fashioned but I guess I’m kind of conservative when it comes to sex. I don’t think I’d ever sleep with someone I’m not truly in love with. It makes me uncomfortable just talking about sex so casually.

“Then how the hell did you end up in Los Angeles?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” I say nonchalantly, trying to figure out how much of the story I should tell them.

“We have fifteen minutes until first period so you better get started,” Harlee commands. All of us stop walking and the four of them turn to stare at me, their faces clad with expectant expressions.

“It’s not a big deal,” I shrug, trying to stop myself from blushing, “Obviously I was ill on Friday. I was meant to be hanging out with Charlie and his band on Saturday but I still wasn’t feeling 100% so I text him to say I couldn’t come. Then he fucking turned up at my house, deciding that we’re gonna spend the day together. I’d never been to LA before and I fancied going so I persuaded him to take me.”

“Oh my god, that’s adorable,” Harlee squeals, before glaring at Keegan, “Why doesn’t my boyfriend do that?”

“Why does my girlfriend care more about Charlie Hemmingway than she does me?” Keegan sighs, shaking his head. We all laugh and then Harlee apologises, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

“Harlee, you’re acting like he proposed marriage or something. I just wanted to do something fun and all I hear about LA is that it’s loads of fun, so we went.”

“But this is different Noelle,” Amber tells me, “Say if it was Tristan or something, that would be completely innocent. That’s just the kind of thing Tristan does because he’s sweet and caring and fun like that. Charlie is not any of those things. All he wants from girls is sex.”

“She does have a point,” Tristan agrees, resting his elbow on Amber’s shoulder as we begin to walk again.

“I don’t know,” I say quietly, “He and Tay seem pretty close.”

“And I guarantee you they’re sleeping together.”

“But there’s got to be more to it than that. He obviously cares about her.”

“Maybe, but this feels different.” I smile and feel butterflies in my stomach, wondering for a second if maybe Charlie feels the same way about me as I do about him. I shake the silly thought from my head as quickly as it entered. It’s not like it was a planned romantic getaway.

“Can you do me one favour though?” Harlee asks sincerely.

“Sure.”

“Next time you hang out with him, can I come too?”

“Fuck no!” Keegan gasps, “You think I’ll let you hang out with him knowing what he’s like…and what you’re like for that matter.”

“Come on baby,” she begs, staring pleadingly into his eyes, “It’s not like anything’s gonna happen. Noelle will be there anyway and he’s clearly more interested in her than anyone else.”

“Noelle hasn’t even agreed to it,” he argues. Harlee turns to me expectantly and I let out a small laugh before nodding.

“I’ll ask him but I can’t promise anything.” Harlee squeals and jumps around excitedly while her boyfriend shoots me a glare. I don’t know how Keegan puts up with her, especially because I know Harlee would have him castrated if he talked about another girl the way she talks about Charlie. She’s the actual definition of a high-maintenance girlfriend.

-

The next day at lunchtime, I decide to sit with Charlie and his friends, promising that I’ll ask if we can go to watch next time he does a gig.

“Hey y’all,” I grin as I walk over to their usual table.

“Hey doll,” Charlie greets. I slide in between Stan and Adam, as unsurprisingly, Coral and the clones are sat next to Charlie. They give me a scowl as I sit down and I can’t help but smirk in response, noting how Charlie removes his arm from around Coral’s shoulders. Coral whispers something into Charlie’s ear and Adam, Mason and Harvey start having a conversation about some fight that went down last lesson. I turn to Stan who’s giving me a knowing look.

“What?” I ask defensively.

“I hear you had a good weekend,” he teases, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “There I was genuinely believing that you two weren’t hooking up.”

“We’re not,” I say simply.

“Oh yeah,” he scoffs, “My bad. You were getting a room so you could have a sleepover with cookies and watch movies and gossip all night. That’s just Charlie’s style, right?”
I shoot him a glare.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” Stan reassures, “You’re not the first girl to be blinded by Charlie’s charm and jump into bed with him.”

“But I didn’t. Did Charlie tell you we hooked up?”

“No, he denied it too.”

“Exactly. Why would Charlie lie?”

“Good point. He’d be bragging for weeks if he got you into bed.”

I groan. “You guys talk about girls like they’re just another item to tick off your list. It sucks.” Stan laughs sheepishly and shrugs.

“I’m only messing. You know I don’t mean it. I’m just happy that you pissed off my least favourite person.” He nods his head in Coral’s direction.

“Did I?” I grin excitedly, not even trying to deny that I get a kick out of winding her up.

“Yeah, she’s so mad. She hates any girl who so much as looks in Charlie’s direction. She despises
Tay; she’s so bitchy to her.”

“Hardly surprising. Where is Tay anyway?” I ask, wondering why she’s not here as she quite often sits with the guys. It seems like she spends a lot of time with Charlie, and I’m surprised I’ve not officially met her yet.

“She doesn’t sit with us when Coral’s here. She can’t deal with all the drama. Tay has a lot of other friends anyway. She doesn’t cling to Charlie quite like Coral does.”

“Good for her. I’m not sure I could handle two Corals,” I muse before asking, not just to Stan but to the whole table, “By the way, are you guys playing a show this Saturday?”

“Yep,” Mason confirms, “Same place as before.”

“Why? Are we so good you can’t wait to see us again?” Charlie asks cockily, turning his attention away from Coral. It’s impossible not to grin smugly when I see the look of irritation on her face. When did I turn into such a bitch?

“My friends want to come and see you play.”

“Which friends?”

“Harlee and Amber.”

“Why?”

“Maybe they’re infatuated with your dashing good looks or maybe it’s the skinny jeans. Who knows?” I say sarcastically.

“Don’t even joke,” Stan groans, “His ego’s big enough as it is.”

“I knew that Harlee girl had a thing for me,” Charlie grins proudly.

“Red haired Harlee? Oh please, you can do better than her Charlie,” Coral hisses, her voice oozing jealousy. I wouldn’t usually call her out on this sort of thing, because she’s only making herself look desperate and clingy, but I won’t have her talk shit about my friends.

“What, like you?” I challenge, “Cos you’re such a catch, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Seriously, I love the whole look you’ve got going on,” I gush enthusiastically, “I mean, your eyebrows are drawn on so neatly and your skin tone is my favourite shade of orange.” Stan, who’s making no attempt at hiding his dislike for Coral, and Charlie glance at each other and smirk. I’m half expecting Charlie to intervene, but instead he sits back and watches intently, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Coral asks, trying, and struggling, to keep her voice steady and calm. Anyone at the table can see she’s on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

“Why the fuck are you here?” I retort, laughing bluntly, “Do you actually have any proper friends, or do you shag your way into everything?”

Stan laughs loudly, earning a death glare from Coral, and even Charlie smirks a little. Coral opens her mouth to respond but I get up before she can speak. “I’m off now. I’ll see you guys later.” The guys all snigger and mutter goodbyes, and one of the clones rub Coral’s arm supportively, no doubt reassuring her that her botched spray tan isn’t all that bad.

Just as I’m about to walk away, Charlie grabs my arm and pulls me down to his level. “Do you have a death wish?” he whispers in my ear, still smirking and I laugh and shrug in response. “I’ll text you about Saturday,” he promises.